


Purely Coincidental

by textuallyfrustrated



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Bad Pick-Up Lines, Co-workers, M/M, Mutual Pining, Oblivious Katsuki Yuuri, Oblivious Victor Nikiforov, Pining Katsuki Yuuri, Pining Victor Nikiforov, Shy Katsuki Yuuri, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Wingman Christophe Giacometti, Wingman Phichit Chulanont
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-15
Updated: 2018-06-08
Packaged: 2019-05-01 13:14:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14521341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/textuallyfrustrated/pseuds/textuallyfrustrated
Summary: Yuuri and Victor attend the same University and happen to work in different departments of their school's Campus Store.What no one could have prepared themselves for was developing a crush on their seemingly unattainable coworker who always seems to be hiding just around the corner from them; however, with a little help from a best friend, things will certainly work themselves out...or will they?





	1. "Do you believe in love at first sight or should I walk by again?"

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first thing I've written and posted on AO3 for the YOI fandom. I have a few other stories that I have ideas for and/or have partially written, but whether or not they actually get posted relies on how well this story is received...
> 
> Feel free to let me know any thought/questions/feedback you may have for me...I'd really appreciate it!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> At a University with thousands of students, crossing paths with your coworker-slash-secret-crush on the first day of a semester is an improbable stroke of good luck.
> 
> Crossing paths again is just a coincidence, surely.
> 
> That is unless your best friend is Phichit Chulanont, who lives his whole life using his vast RomCom knowledge as a guide.

Yuuri exited the elevator once it reached the third floor and nervously pulled his cellphone from the side pocket of his backpack for the umpteenth time to ensure that he knew what room number he was searching for.

_Room 315_

A quick glance to his left revealed that the room nearest to the elevators was room 312 and the room numbers seemed to be decreasing going down the hallway.

_Huh, my classroom must be to the right then…_

Fully aware of his propensity to get lost looking for his classes on the first day of a new semester—although if Yuuri is being honest with himself it would likely take at least a few weeks before he would be able to navigate his class schedule without needing to double-check his phone to remember the room numbers—Yuuri was relieved that his Abnormal Psychology lecture had ended early and given him more than enough time to find his next class, even if he did get lost.

There were considerably fewer rooms on this side of the building, two of which being equipment storage rooms, and Yuuri soon found himself standing in front of a small classroom with a number plate beside the door that read “315”.

Since finding this classroom had proved to be easier than Yuuri had anticipated, he glanced into the classroom and was not surprised to see that there were only three people in the room, one of which was considerably older and Yuuri assumed to be the instructor, given how early to class he was.

“Are you here for BIS 256?” The instructor asked suddenly with more enthusiasm than Yuuri was expecting, causing him to jump slightly.

Yuuri walked further into the classroom as he nodded silently before setting his backpack on a desk in the corner of the room, as close to both the back of the class and the door as possible.

“Well, welcome in! We still have a few minutes before class starts and it’s the first day, so I’m sure we’ll have a few stragglers coming in a little late, but we should be getting started soon!”  
The instructor replied as he used his phone’s Bluetooth to connect to the speakers in the back of the room and turn on reggae music to help fill the awkward silence of the nearly empty classroom.

Yuuri pulled his phone from the pocket of his backpack and saw that he had a number of text messages from his best friend, Phichit.

**Peach:**  
**-YUUUUUURRRIIIII**  
**-I’m so tired. Why do we have to be starting school already?!?**  
**-I feel like summer was like 3 days long! ;A;**

Yuuri smirked as he read his friend’s texts and slouched down in his desk, leaning his back against the wall beside him as he typed his reply.

**Yuu-Chan:**  
**-Well summer was actually 3 MONTHS long...but I know what you mean.**  
**-I wasn’t too excited to wake up in time for my 9am lecture this morning, but by some miracle I was even early to class!**

Yuuri hadn’t even locked the screen of his phone after sending his responses before he felt his phone vibrate in his hands, Phichit’s response being almost instantaneous.

**Peach:**  
**-Well still, 3 months wasn’t nearly long enough!**  
**-Why the hell did I sign up for a 7:30am math class, Yuuri?**  
**-I DON'T EVEN FUCKING LIKE MATH!!!**

**Yuu-Chan:**  
**-Nobody truly likes math, Phi...if anyone disagrees they are just lying to themselves or they only like it because they are irrationally good at it. Either way, those people are not to be trusted.**

**Peach:**  
**-True…**

**Yuu-Chan:**  
**-How have your classes been today?**

**Peach:**  
**-They've been ok...boring :/ How have your classes been?**

**Yuu-Chan:**  
**-My first class was really interesting. My second class is going to start in about 20 minutes.**  
**-I’m not sure how to feel about the prof for my class right now…**  
**-He’s kinda old, but he’s wearing khaki shorts and a Hawaiian print shirt**  
**-He’s also blasting reggae while complaining about how he’s too old to be using the computer that is on his desk**  
**-He’s way too enthusiastic, I think. Maybe it’s an American thing?**

Yuuri chuckled lightly under his breath. Despite moving to the United States to attend University over two years ago, Yuuri often still found himself confused by some of the customs and behaviors of Americans. Luckily, Phichit had been in the same position when he moved to the US for school and when the two were “randomly assigned” as roommates in the Freshman housing on-campus, they became fast friends and have been inseparable ever since.

**Peach:**  
**-Lol xD he sounds fun**  
**-I’m so hungry right now, Yuu ._.**

**Yuu-Chan:**  
**-When are you done with your classes?**

**Peach:**  
**-I’m in a class now and then I have one more class after that. I should be done around 1 tho**

**Yuu-Chan:**  
**-YOU’RE IN CLASS RIGHT NOW? YOU SHOULD BE PAYING ATTENTION!!**

**Peach:**  
**-It’s syllabus week! All we’re doing is talking about the basics of the class**

**Yuu-Chan:**  
**-Fine, I guess that’s ok then…**  
**-After your class, do you wanna meet me to grab some lunch?**

“Good morning, class!” the professor sing-songed from the front of the room, causing Yuuri to look up from his phone and see that the classroom had filled up a bit more since when Yuuri had first walked into the class,“Welcome to BIS 256! I’m your professor, David Thompson, but you can call me David. All we really have on the schedule for today is to go over the course syllabus, so I’m pretty sure I’ll get you all out of here nice and early!”

Yuuri turned his attention back to his phone to read Phichit’s replies while David brought up the course website to run through all the important information with the class.

**Peach:**  
**-YES**  
**-FUCK YES, actually**

**Yuu-Chan:**  
**-The usual lunch spot?**

**Peach:**  
**-YAAASSSS**

**Yuu-Chan:**  
**-Alright, I’ll see you there! Have fun in class! ^_^**

**Peach:**  
**-Ugh, fuck off**  
**-Jk, you too bb :3**

“So let's just run through the course syllabus and if you have any questions, feel free to stop me or ask me at the end...does that sound like a plan?” David then launched into a lengthy discussion about how much of a necessity it would be for students to attend class sessions in order to pass his class while Yuuri tried to pay attention to what was being discussed..

***

The class was meant to be over an hour and a half long but had ended after less than half of that time, so Yuuri decided to walk to the outdoor cafe that he and Phichit frequented on campus to secure one of the three coveted tables with more comfortable chairs and the most amount of shade.

Luckily, Yuuri had the foresight to bring his laptop with him to campus, so he was able to keep himself entertained for nearly an hour as he waited for Phichit to get out of class as well.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!” Yuuri heard his best friend groan before he came into view.

“Yuuri! Hi! Why does the universe despise me?” Phichit asked as he took a seat in the chair beside Yuuri and leaned his head back dramatically with his arm thrown over his eyes.

“What makes you think the universe is against you today?” Yuuri asked without glancing away from his laptop as he waited for the computer to finish shutting down, not at all phased by his best friend’s knack for exaggeration.

“Did you not see the sign on the window of the cafe? Saying the the Crepe Cafe is closed for the first week of this semester for remodeling?”

“Uh, no...I guess I didn’t see that sign when I walked up here. I was too focused on getting one of the good tables that I didn’t even think to check or anything…”

“Why have crepes, one of my few true loves in this dismal existence that I call my life, forsaken me so? I’ve wait months...MONTHS...for the semester to begin again so the Crepe Cafe will be open again and I can taste the culinary perfection that is the Chicken Florentine Crepe and this is the thanks I get?”

“You had no way of knowing that they’d still be closed for repairs, since they most likely started it during summer and are running behind schedule. We can just find somewhere else to grab lunch, if you still want to grab something to eat.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. I overslept and skipped breakfast, so I think I’m just hangry right now. Where else could we go eat?”

“Do you wanna stay on campus or go somewhere a bit further away to get lunch?”

“I’m really hungry and don’t feel like waiting longer than we need to, so on campus maybe…”

“That’s fine with me. Do you want to go to the dining hall at the Student Union? The food is decent and all-you-can-eat.”

“Yeah, that sounds good!”

***  
Yuuri and Phichit had walked across campus to the Student Union and found the dining hall with little trouble. Phichit began pulling his wallet from his pocket to pay at the cashier, but Yuuri held a hand up to stop him.

“Don’t worry about paying, Phi. It’s my treat!” Yuuri said as he handed his card to the bored-looking blonde boy behind the counter who had to begrudgingly set aside his cell phone in order to do his job.

When Phichit and Yuuri walked around the dining hall to find a good place to sit, they were surprised to see how few open tables there were.

“Why is it so packed right now?” Phichit complained after narrowly avoiding a collision with a group of girls carrying their trays of food and not paying attention to where they were walking.

“Well, it’s the first day of a new school year. All the incoming freshman and transfer students have no clue that there are other places to get food than the student dining halls and they haven’t had time to explore campus and find places to eat yet, so I think everyone sort of just...ends up here…”

“Yeah, I guess so...jackpot! Hurry, those two guys just got up over by the window! Let’s take their spots before someone else gets there!”

Phichit and Yuuri walked quickly towards the recently vacated table beside one of the large windows in the furthest corner of the dining hall and placed their backpacks on the backs of the chairs to stake their claim on the table.

“Ugh, gross…” Phichit complained as he pulled a few napkins from the dispenser on the table to wipe off some of the unidentifiable liquids and food particles left on the table from the previous occupants.

“Okay, Yuuri. How do you wanna do this? We can take turns getting our food while the other person saves our spot or we can just leave our bags at the table and hope for the best.”

“I don’t think we’ll take long getting our food, so we can just leave our bags here while we get food from the buffet.”

***

Phichit placed his glass of water on the table and took his seat, wasting no time to dig into his food while Yuuri took his seat as well.

“So...do you have any friends in any of your classes?” Phichit asked as he took a bite of one of the slices of pizza he had piled onto his plate.

Since it was in the midst of the lunch rush, there was not a huge selection of foods and the kitchen was busy preparing more fresh food to put out, but the pair had still managed to find a few different items that looked promising and smelled good.

“Not really,” Yuuri said before he began to eat the vegan stir-fry he had decided to give a chance, “in my Abnormal Psych class there is a girl that used to live next door to us when we were in the dorms, but I wouldn’t say we’re friends, necessarily.”

“Ah, I see...are there any cute boys in your classes?” Phichit asked with an eyebrow waggle as he shoved the last bite of his first slice of pizza into his mouth in an unappealing way, making Yuuri chuckle quietly.

“Why does everything always revolve around cute boys with you, Phi?” Yuuri asked with a laugh as he took a drink of his soda.

“So I guess I’ll take that as a ‘yes’!” Phichit replied, ignoring Yuuri’s question completely.

“Okay, there’s a couple cute boys in my class that I just came from but no one that really captured my attentio—oh my god!”

“‘Oh my god’ what?” Phichit asked with a full mouth as he turned his head to follow the direction of Yuuri’s stare and swallowed his mouthful of pizza, “Or should I say ‘oh my god’ who, because oh my god! Who are they?”

Yuuri and Phichit continued staring through the window at a pair of guys that were walking together outside of the dining hall. The shorter of the two--who was still a few inches taller than either Yuuri or Phichit--had an undercut hairstyle with the top of his hair bleached-blonde and perfectly messy and a small amount of facial hair that seemed well-kempt. He appeared to be in the middle of telling a story by the way he was gesturing broadly with his hands as he spoke while the friend he was walking beside was listening and currently laughing heartily at something his friend had said. 

The taller of the two friends was easily a few inches taller than his friend, but the lean, athletic build of his body made the height difference seem more significant. The most striking detail of the tall man walking in their direction from just on the opposite side of the window, however, was by far his short, silky-looking, silvery blonde hair that appeared to be finger-combed away from his forehead to keep his hair out of his eyes.

Yuuri and Phichit stared in awe as the two made conversation and came more into view as they neared the window that Yuuri and Phichit were seated by.

“Who are they? WHAT are they? Those two have to be two of the most attractive boys I have ever seen in my life. And trust me, I’ve seen a lot of attractive boys!” Phichit mumbled as he continued staring, his plate full of pizza all but forgotten.

The shorter of the two laughed loudly and nudged his friend in the side with his elbow and the taller man turned away, bringing his hand to his face to cover up the smile that was tugging at his lips. Now that the pair had walked closer to where Yuuri and Phichit were sitting and were in clear view, Yuuri was able to see the large, shining blue eyes that gave even the clearest oceans a run for their money belonging to the taller of the two and Yuuri would be lying if he said that his heart did not flutter slightly at the way his face lit up as he smiled when he responded to whatever his friend had said to him moments ago.

“I think I found the love of my life,” Yuuri mumbled once the pair was much closer to the window he was sitting next to as they walked past.

As soon as the words left Yuuri’s lips, he realized that his previous statement was actually said aloud and was not kept to himself and his eyes flew open wide in embarrassment as a deep red blush flooded his cheeks. As if to make matters worse, as soon as he realized what he had said and how audibly he had said it, Yuuri’s surprised gasp was loud enough to catch the attention of the two attractive men that had enthralled Yuuri and Phichit as they walked past the window and the pair looked over the the table where Yuuri and Phichit sat.

_Shit, why does this kind of stuff always happen to me?_

Yuuri looked at the pair like a deer caught in headlights for only a brief moment, having been unable to completely avoid making eye contact with them, before turning away from the window as fast as possible and waiting until he was certain that the pair was nowhere in sight of the window as they continued walking.

“I can’t believe that just happened…” Yuuri groaned as he lowered his head down to the table face-first in shame.

“I don’t think they heard what you said,” Phichit replied, trying to calm Yuuri’s concerns.

“I think they did. I’m pretty sure that they heard me gasp, which was why they turned to look at us, and I don’t think I did that very loud,” Yuuri said, his voice still slightly muffled from how his face was positioned on the table.

“That could have just been a coincidence. Or maybe they did hear what you said, but they took one look at you and were so enamored that they both stared at you in awe.”

“Hah, don’t be crazy, Phi...what am I gonna do? I know him!”

“Which one?”

“The taller one with the silvery hair.”

“You know him?”

“Well not like, know-know but I kind of know him. We work with him,”

“We work with him? How have I never seen him then?”

“Well we work at the same place, but different shifts or different departments, I think.”

“Oh, I see,”

“Do you remember a few weeks back when we were at work and some of the new trainees were being toured around?”

“Yeah…”

“Do you remember the cute guy that I saw and referred to as ‘a tall drink of water’?”

“Yeah...wait, is he?”

“Yup...he was the ‘tall drink of water’,”

“What’s his name? If you know him from work, you should have said ‘hi’ to him when he walked past and looked over at you,”

“I don’t think I know him THAT well. Plus he looked like he was busy talking to his friend when they were walking by, so I would hate to have interrupted.”

Yuuri and Phichit turned their attention back to the food on their plates that had gown slightly cold while they were distracted, but before long, Yuuri noticed Phichit glance out the window while taking a bite of a french fry from his plate and make a quiet sound of surprise.

“Well I’ll be damned,” Phichit whispered before speaking up a bit more, “I know what you meant about not wanting to interrupt your ‘tall glass of water’ hunk from work and his friend as they walked by earlier...Lucky for you, it looks like you may have a second chance to say ‘hi’ to your tall boy…”

“What do you mean?”

“Look out the window.”

Yuuri looked out the window and followed Phichit’s gaze to see that the tall, silver-haired boy was walking in the opposite direction from where he was headed before, this time without his friend beside him.

“Why is he walking past again?”

“Maybe he was walking with his friend to a class or something and now he needs to go in a different direction. I don’t know…”

“He’s more attractive than I remembered him being,” Yuuri whispered as he walked past the window as both Yuuri and Phichit stared at him without making any attempts to be subtle.

“He is, like, insanely hot…”

“I know...and he’s dressed like a crayon,” Yuuri said with a giggle.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, just look at him! His shirt has all of the primary colors on it...like a crayon!”

The tall boy had long since passed, but Yuuri and Phichit were still laughing about the tall boy’s resemblance to a crayon. Phichit stood from his chair and walked back to the buffet to get a few more slices of pizza, but as he returned, he noticed Yuuri staring out the window in disbelief.

“What are you looking at...what is this boy doing walking past the window again?”

Sure enough, outside the window, the tall colorfully-dressed boy was walking back in the way he had the first time.

“What’s Crayon Boy doing?” Phichit asked as he took a large bite into one of the fresh slices of pizza he had gotten.

“Maybe he’s lost and looking for a specific place,” Yuuri guessed with a shrug.

“If that was the case, don’t you think that he’d, I don’t know...be looking around or asking one of the people that he’s passing for directions?”

“Okay, maybe he’s not lost. Maybe he’s just pacing, to waste time or something.”

“Maybe...or, he could be walking by the window repeatedly in hopes that you will notice him because he is secretly in love with you too and he doesn’t know how to make the first move.”

“You’re definitely reading into things too much, Phi. He hasn’t even looked over here once during all of the times that he has walked past us,”

“Are you sure about that?” Phichit asked as he used his head to gesture towards the tall boy as he passed by the window yet again, this time walking significantly slower as his eyes darted quickly between the phone in his hands and the window that Yuuri and Phichit sat on the opposite side of.

“Are you serious, Crayon Boy? What is this, three times in less than ten minutes? Why are you pacing back and forth?” Yuuri asked rhetorically as the tall boy walked further out of his line of sight.

“How about we brainstorm reasons that he could be pacing back and forth?”

“Okay, let’s see...maybe he’s looking for someone that he’s supposed to meet here at the Student Union.”

“Or maybe he’s looking for you, Yuuri,”

“Don’t make me laugh. Maybe he’s...lost and trying to find a room, but he’s too proud to ask for directions.”

“Yeah, maybe he is lost...as in lost without you in his life, Yuuri.”

“You say the craziest things sometimes, Phichit.”

“I’m serious! This boy is like the epitome of that one pick-up line...how does it go? Oh yeah! ‘Do you believe in love at first sight or should I walk by again?’”

“Yeah, okay, Phichit…” Yuuri replied with an eye roll, “I’m going to go get some more soda to drink.”

“Okay, I’ll let you know what happens when Crayon Boy walks past again.”

“What makes you think he’ll walk past again?”

“Oh, he will...I’m sure of it.”

Yuuri stood from the table and walked to the opposite side of the dining hall where the soda fountains were so he could fill up his glass.

As he returned to the table, he could already see that Phichit was angled in his chair to face the window and was grinning widely.

“Crayon Boy walked past almost as soon as you left. He looked over at the window and saw that it was just me here and he hesitated for just a moment before turning back the way that he had come from, without completing his pass in this direction like he had the prior times.”

“He did? Really?” Yuuri asked incredulously as he took a seat.

“Yup, clearly he was a bit confused to not see you sitting in your spot. When do you see him at work next?”

“I, uh, I don’t know. I work tomorrow morning, so maybe then. Why?”

“You should try talking to him.”

“And say what, exactly?”

“Just let him know that you saw him walking around the Student Union and you didn’t get a chance to say ‘hi’ to him. You don’t need to include the bit about seeing him pacing back and forth in front of the window that you were sitting next to in what appeared to be a desperate attempt to get your attention, though you definitely can if you wanna,”

“Yeah, I’m sure that would go over so well,” Yuuri replied sarcastically, “and I’m fairly certain that he’s not trying to get my attention, whatever he’s doing.”

“Are you sure about that? Because here he comes again and he’s looking right over here!”

“He is?” Yuuri whipped his head in the direction that Phichit was facing to see what he was staring at and was surprised and flustered to see that the tall boy had changed into the clothes he had to wear to work and was walking towards them again, this time on the side of the hallway closest to the window so that as he approached, Yuuri and Phichit could hear the faint sounds of his shoes squeaking on the laminate flooring as he walked.

“I told you,” Phichit replied smugly under his breath, “he’s like ‘Yuuri!!! Notice me, Senpai!’”

The latter half of Phicht’s statement was said loudly enough that as the tall boy walked past the window he hesitated slightly before coming to a full stop outside the window and looking at Yuuri and Phichit.

Yuuri, unsure about what someone is supposed to do in this situation, raised a hand tentatively and gave the tall boy a quick wave when their eyes met through the window.

The tall boy seemed surprised by Yuuri waving at him, based on the way that his eyes widened slightly, but he recovered quickly and lifted a hand to wave back at him before giving him a wide smile and walking away quickly, in the complete opposite direction than he had been pacing in.

“Uh, what just happened?” Yuuri asked in confusion, his left hand still slightly raised in the air above the table from waving at the tall boy when he stopped outside the window.

“How the hell am I supposed to know?” Phichit replied with a shrug before continuing, “Just make sure you invite me to the wedding and allow me time during my best man’s speech to tell the story of how you first met when you and Crayon Boy get married!”

Yuuri scoffed and rolled his eyes at Phichit’s teasing, but as he stared out the window towards where the tall boy had turned to walk away after he was done pacing, Yuuri could do nothing to hide the bright pink blush that was spread across his cheeks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the first part of a multi-chapter story. Poor Yuuri is utterly confused about what just transpired, meanwhile Phichit is already beginning to plan the wedding between his best friend and "Crayon Boy".
> 
> Stay tuned for the next chapter where we get to know a bit more about the events that occurred, but from a different POV!


	2. Operation “Talk to the Cute Boy from Work”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Victor is hopelessly enamored with the cute boy with glasses that he works with and can barely function in the boy's presence.
> 
> Victor is shy and clueless, but lucky for him, his best friend Christophe is a great motivator and is determined to help his friend catch his crush's attention by any means necessary.
> 
> Victor takes some advice Christophe gives him a little bit too literally (but it kind of actually works out in his favor!?).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is chapter 2 of 3 (I think) for this story and it provides a different POV on some of the events of the first chapter.
> 
> Thank you to those of you who have read this and/or given kudos thus far. I'm still fairly new to writing for the YOI fandom and using AO3 for posting, but I'm trying my best to learn and improve. 
> 
> Feel free to let me know any thought/questions/feedback you may have for me...I'd really appreciate it!

Victor knelt down on the ground beside the large cardboard box and searched the pockets of his jeans for the box cutter that he knows he grabbed before heading into the back room to do inventory.

“Chris, can I ask you something?” Victor asked as he switched open the box cutter and pressed the exposed blade to the tape that sealed the box on the ground in front of him.

“Of course, what’s up?”

“So I know why you’re stuck doing inventory at 6am on the last Saturday of summer...because you’re new and trying to kiss ass with the boss so they will be more willing to forgive you when you inevitably miss work or are late to nearly every shift,” Victor began as he started to pull the neatly folded shirts from the box and sort them by size, “but why did I let you convince me to be stuck doing inventory with you?”

“Because you are a great best friend!” Christophe replied with a wide grin.

“Yeah, yeah...whatever you say. I’m gonna start putting all the shirts we unpacked onto the displays,” Victor said as he wheeled the cart with stacks of neatly folded shirts in front of him, out of the back room.

***

“Earth to Victor, hello? Victor!” Christophe huffed in annoyance from next to Victor.

“Oh, sorry. What’s up buddy?”

“‘What’s up’, really? Did you not hear me trying to get your attention for the past few minutes?”

“Nope, I guess not. I think I must have gotten distracted or something,”

“Mhmm, because organizing ghastly yellow shirts with our University’s name plastered on them on a display is so interesting,” Christophe replied sarcastically.

Christophe sided up next to Victor and began arranging shirts onto the other side of the display as he tried to start up a conversation.

“You know, I really thought that working at the Campus Store over the summer would be a piece of cake, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many items with our University’s logo on them in one place. At least we are considered student workers so we can be eligible for tuition assistance...and you’re not even listening to me,” Chris replied with an eye roll as he shoved Victor’s shoulder in slight annoyance.

“What? Oh, I—uh...sorry,” Victor apologized quietly.

“What is so interesting over there that you keep getting distracted?” Chris asked as he followed the direction Victor had been staring in with his eyes and a smile of understanding crept across his face.

“Ah, I see! ‘Tis not a ‘what’ that has stolen your complete attention, but a ‘who’” Chris replied cheekily.

“I—I, uh,have no idea what you’re talking about,” Victor sputtered as he turned away from Chris to retrieve another stack of shirts to put on the display.

“So who is he?” Chris asked as soon as Victor returned to his spot standing beside him.

“Who is who?” Victor feigned ignorance as he busied himself with making the stack of shirts he was organizing as neat as possible.

“The cute boy in the blue-framed glasses over in the electronics section that is currently booting up the different laptops and tablets that we have on display for customers to test out and looking this way,”

“He’s looking over here?” Victor asked in shock as he whipped his head around to see if Christophe as being serious.

“No, he’s not looking over here, but now I know that you wish he was. So...who is he?”

“Oh,” Victor replied sheepishly, knowing that he had been backed into a corner, “I don’t know who he is, exactly. I’ve just seen him around work a few times and I don’t know…”

“And you’re in love with him?” Chris asked, trying to complete Victor's statement.

“What? No! I just, uh, think it’s good to get to know some of your coworkers when you are working at a new job. You know, networking and whatnot…”

“Oh, in that case, you should go over and say ‘hi’ to him! I’m sure he’d be happy to ‘network’ with you!” Christophe replied with a suggestive smirk.

“No! I mean, not right now...he looks busy right now and I’m pretty busy right now too, so,”

“Nonsense! I’ll go over there too! We can both introduce ourselves to him and then we’ll get right back to work. We’ll be super quick about it,” Chris offered as he set down the stack of shirts he had in his hands back onto the cart and gestured for Victor to follow him, “let’s go right now!”

“No, Chris! I can’t do that!”

“Why not, Victor?”

“I’m too nervous,”

“Why? He seems friendly enough to me!” Chris said as he quickly glanced over his shoulder at the boy across the room that was currently using the bottom of his shirt to clean the smudges from the lenses of his glasses.

“Because I think I’m kind of, sort of, maybe...in love with this boy.”

***

As the crowds of incoming freshmen and college students bustling from class to class on the first day of the new semester died down slightly, Victor sat at one of the metal tables outside of the Campus Store, waiting for Chris to finish with his shift at work.

“I can’t do this anymore,” Chris said as he hooked the strap of his backpack over his shoulders and Victor stood from the uncomfortable metal chair he’d been sitting in and did the same.

“Stressful shift at work today, Chris?” Victor asked as the pair began walking across campus to the small coffee shop where they had agreed to hang out together as Christophe waited for his classes that began a bit later in the afternoon.

“It was insane! There were so many people in the Campus Store getting their textbooks and supplies for the semester and it was just complete chaos!”

Chris and Victor approached the Student Union building and after Chris held the door open for Victor, he proceeded with his recounting of his morning at work.

“The boss asked me to go from restocking shelves in apparel to stocking textbooks, and I of course agreed because I’m still trying to kiss up to him while I can. So at one point, I’m just minding my own business...putting textbooks on the shelves and this huge, hulking guy comes barreling at me at full speed from around the corner,” Chris pauses his retelling of the story while gesturing broadly with his arms to portray the physique of the person he’s describing and the events that unfolded, making Victor laugh at the mental image Chris was supplying.

“Needless to say...books went flying, I ended up falling on my ass in front of the boss, and the dumb brute didn’t even apologize or acknowledge me after he tackled me!” Chris concluded with a frustrated huff.

“I’m sorry for laughing, Chris. That’s definitely not a great way to start off the semester, but hopefully your classes later today will be alright and it’ll make up for how bad your day at work was.”

“Hopefully...you work later today, right?” Christophe asked, changing the subject.

“Yeah, I’m working the closing shift today,”

“Fun! Are you excited to see your boyfriend from the electronics section at work?”

“I think he works mornings or midday, maybe...I never saw him at work other than a couple times over summer when I picked up shifts earlier in the day...Unless of course his work schedule changed with the semester starting today. I suppose I’ll just have to wait and see tonight, I guess,” Victor replied with a shrug as the pair walked together.

“Hmm, I see...I also noticed that you made no effort to deny me calling him your boyfriend!” Chris commented with a loud laugh when he saw the look of realization followed by embarrassment flash across Victor’s face as he nudged his best friend in the side with his elbow.

“I—I, uh…” Victor struggled to reply before deciding simply to turn his face away from Chris so his best friend would be less likely to see the deep red blush on his cheeks and the smile spreading across his lips behind the hand he used to cover his face slightly.

“Well, speak of that handsome little devil and he shall appear!” Chris muttered quietly after a moment.

“What are you talking about now, Chris?”

“Look at the window over there,” Chris said as he gestured with a nod of his head towards the window of the dining hall at the Student Union, “isn’t that your cute electronics boy from work?”

Victor's gaze followed the direction that Chris had gestured in and he immediately turned his head and averted his eyes when the unmistakable blue-framed glasses and the unfairly adorable boy that wore them came into view. 

“Oh shit, yeah...that’s him. Just don’t say anything, alright?”

“Me? Christophe Daniel Martin Giacometti saying something that would embarrass you? That’s highly unlikely,”

“Sure it is…” Victor replied with an eye roll and a nervous smile as the pair neared the window that his coworker-slash-secret-crush was sitting next to.

“I think I found the love of my life!” A quiet voice stated in slightly accented English, however it was the sudden gasp that caused Victor to shift his focus towards the source of the sound—an involuntary response that he both regretted and was extremely thankful for—and make direct eye contact with his very pink, very flustered-looking coworker for a brief moment before the other boy turned his face away from Victor.

When the pair had passed the window and Victor let out a shaky breath that he hadn’t realized he was holding, he looked back over his shoulder at the window before focusing his attention back to where he and Chris were walking.

“And you thought I would embarrass you!” Chris scoffed as the pair approached the cafe and stood in line to place their orders.

“I feel so terrible...I think I might have startled him or made things awkward when we passed by the boy from work because I accidentally made eye contact with him. Was that creepy of me to do?” Victor asked as he read over the cafe menu on the wall in front of him.

“I was staring too, mon ami. Your electronics cutie is gorgeous, especially now that I’ve gotten to see him up a bit closer!” Chris replied as he clapped Victor on the shoulder in approval.

Victor and Chris placed their orders at the cafe and Christophe paid for both their drinks at his insistence. When both their drinks were made and retrieved from the cafe counter, they walked out of the cafe to find an alcove off to one side of the Student Union where there were a number of comfortable chairs and coffee table for them to take a seat at.

“So...about your electronics department cutie…” Chris began before taking a long sip of the cappuccino he had ordered.

“Chris, do we really need to discuss this right now?” Victor huffed.

“Yes we really do, Victor. You like him, don’t even try to deny that, I know you too well. At the very least you should try to introduce yourself to him,”

“Okay, so what if I like him, Chris? I can’t just walk up to him and strike up a conversation out of thin air,”

“Sure you can!”

“Okay, but what if we start talking and I realize he isn’t interested in me like that or that he is taken?”

“Well then at least you’ll know! Now Victor, I don’t want to push you into doing something you don’t wanna, but I’m going to give you one chance to get up and go say hi to him before him and his friend leave the dining hall on your own before I forcibly drag you over there by your hair...so what will it be?”

At the mention of Victor’s hair, his hand instinctively flew to protect the hair on his scalp, though he knew that his best friend's threat was indubitably just said for dramatic effect to prove how serious he was.

“Fine,” Victor mumbled, “I’ll go say ‘hi’ to him, but that’s it!”

“That’s fine, saying ‘hello’ is all I’m asking of you...this time at least.”

Victor stood from the comfortable chair he had been sitting in and took one last drink from his iced coffee before stomping away from the table like a petulant child.

_Stupid Chris...why is he making me talk to this guy?_

_And why am I even listening to him?_

As Victor walked back in the direction of the dining hall, silently trying to plan out how he would introduce himself to his coworker that had caught his attention, he knew that Chris was right about him wanting to talk to this boy—even if he had too much pride to admit it.

_You can do this, Victor! Just walk up to him, say ‘hi’ and introduce yourself, and then run away...so simple!_

Victor reached down to straighten the nonexistent wrinkles from his shirt before catching a glimpse at the shirt he was wearing.

_Ugh! Why must I be wearing this shirt today of all days?! I look like a child’s art project exploded on me!_

Victor was nearing the window where he had seen his coworker initially and was heading towards the entrance to the actual dining hall when he chanced a quick peek towards the window, to make sure that the boy was still sitting there.

Victor was relieved to see his attractive coworker still sitting at the same table, but his stomach dropped when he saw his coworker and the person he assumed was his friend—hopefully not his boyfriend—laughing loudly together, and he lost his nerve.

Victor took the long way back to the area where he and Chris had been sitting, thankful that the majority of the building was designed in a circle so he wouldn’t have to walk past the window yet again.

“Wow, that was quick! So? How’d it go? What’s his name? Is he nice? What’d you two talk about? I want all the details!” Chris said as soon as Victor reclaimed his seat in the chair across from him and took a long drink of his iced coffee.

“I, uh, didn’t do it...I chickened out,” Victor replied quietly without making eye contact with his friend.

“Why didn’t you talk to him?” Chris asked, his tone of voice almost chastising.

“I was gonna! I really was...but then I saw him and the other boy laughing together through the window and I didn’t want to interrupt them. I think that maybe the other boy with him might be his boyfriend…”

“What makes you think that?”

“I dunno...they just seem really close,”

“We’re just friends and we’re pretty close, don’t you think? Just look at all the times we’ve been mistaken as a couple and took advantage of it to get free dessert for our ‘anniversary’ at restaurants!”

“Yeah, I suppose you could be right…”

“Did the two of you make eye contact at all this time?”

“Uh, no…”

“Well see! He probably didn’t even see you walking by! When we saw him the first time, he seemed shocked to see you, obviously, but not upset. I’m sure if you were to try going over there again he’d be friendly enough to at least chat with you briefly.”

“Do you really think so?” Victor asked.

“Of course! You’re intelligent and charming and an overall great guy...if he is rude or brushes you off, not that I think he will but if he does, well then he doesn’t deserve you regardless of how cute he is!”

“Thanks, Chris...I guess all I needed was a bit of a pep talk, but I think I can do this now!”

“I’m glad I could help! Now...go forth and befriend our insanely cute coworker!” Chris replied with a wide grin as he shooed Victor away with a wave of his hand.

“Will do!” Victor stood from his chair determined to go talk to the boy that had captured his attention when something suddenly dawned on him, “Wait...what do I say to him?”

“I don’t know...a good pick up line usually works. Maybe try something like ‘hey handsome, do you believe in love at first sight or should I walk by you again?’”

“Do you think that will work?” Victor asked in complete seriousness.

“Probably not,” Chris began as he struggled to hold back a chuckle, “but I’m sure it would at least be a funny sight to see you using that line on him!”

“Ugh...I love you Chris, but you’re no help...I think I’m gonna have to do this on my own. Wish me luck, I guess!”

“Good luck!”

Victor stood from his chair yet again and gulped down the remainder of his iced coffee before walking towards the nearest trash can to throw away the empty plastic cup.

Victor walked with purpose towards the dining hall—passing the window his cute coworker was sitting next to and smiling in relief when he saw that he was still sitting at the same table, but he was alone this time—until he reached the cashier at the entrance of the dining hall.

“Hello, will you be using cash, credit, or a meal plan today?” asked the bored looking blonde boy from behind the desk.

“Actually, I’m not here to eat. I’m meeting a, uh, friend...inside the dining hall,”

“I can’t let you in here unless you pay,” the boy stated bluntly without looking up from the cell phone in his hand.

“Fine, I’ll be paying credit,” Victor reached for his wallet within his back pocket, but came up empty.

“I—I, uh...shit,” Victor sputtered as he checked all the other pockets in his distressed denim blue jeans as well as his backpack, “I can’t find my wallet, sorry about that…”

Victor gave the small group of people in line behind him to enter the dining hall an apologetic smile as he turned away from the cashier who scoffed and rolled his eyes at him and walked back into the main hallway of the Student Union.

_Shit...what am I going to do now?_

_I still want to introduce myself to him, but I need to find a way to get his attention without going into the dining hall._

_I can’t just keep walking past the window, hoping that he will be paying attention and I can say ‘hi’ to him...or can I?_

Victor chuckled quietly when the pick up line Chris had suggested he use came to mind, but he knew that at this point his options were limited.

_Well, it’s not the worst idea I’ve had…_

Victor kept walking down the hallway, nearing the window yet again, when he felt his cellphone vibrate within the pocket of his jeans. He quickly pulled the phone from the back pocket of his jeans and attempted to keep an eye on the window to see if his work crush was glancing out the window or not while reading the text messages from Chris.

**Chris:**  
**-My class is starting soon, so I’m headed to class.**  
**-If you haven’t already talked to your electronics cutie, good luck and I expect to hear all the details afterwards.**

Victor had passed the window and knew that he was no longer in the line of sight of the boy sitting next to the window, so he stopped against a wall on one side of the hallway and typed his response to Chris.

**Victor:**  
**-Operation “talk to the cute boy from work” is still in-progress, but I’ll keep you updated.**  
**-Have fun at class!**  
**-On a semi-related note: do you have my wallet? I can’t seem to find it.**

Victor shrugged off one strap of his backpack and placed his phone in the outermost pocket before beginning his walk past the window for the fifth time today.

Victor neared the window, this time making no efforts to be subtle as he looked towards the window hoping to catch the attention of his coworker-slash-crush; however his hopeful smile dropped as soon as he saw that only the electronics cutie’s lunch companion was sitting at the table with a smug smile on his face as he stared out the window in the direction that Victor was coming from.

Victor paused momentarily before turning back around with his eyebrows furrowed in confusion and disappointment, seeing no use in continuing to pace in front of the window if the boy whose attention he was trying to catch was no longer there.

_What am I gonna do now?_

Victor walked towards the exit of the Student Union before deciding that it was close enough to the time that his shift at work started for him to change into the more formal-looking dark denim jeans and maroon polo shirt that were part of his required uniform at work that he kept in his backpack.

After changing into his work uniform in the restroom at the Student Union, Victor was about to leave out of the door that was nearest to him but stopped in his tracks for just a moment.

_Well, what’s the harm in giving it one more try?_

Victor turned around and began walking along the perimeter of the building to the opposite exit, the exit closest to the dining hall.

As the window came into Victor’s line of sight, his heart fluttered at the realization that there were two people sitting at the table beside the window, one of which being a very cute boy in blue-framed glasses.

Ignoring the annoyed looks from the people that he bumped into as he crossed the hallway, Victor walked as close to the window as he could to put as little space between him and his crush on the other side as possible.

“Notice me, Senpai!” A voice from the opposite side of the window said loud enough for Victor to hear without difficulty, causing him to stop walking at the portion of the window closest to the two boys sitting together at the table on the opposite side.

The cute boy in the glasses looked directly at Victor with a look of silent panic on his face while the friend looked between Victor and his lunch companion with a poorly concealed smile hidden behind the hand covering his mouth.

_Okay, you have his attention now...so what was my big plan to talk to him again?_

Before Victor had a chance to come up with a plan to talk the the boy on the other side of the window, Victor saw the boy in the blue framed glasses hesitantly lift a hand into the air and wave at Victor.

Slightly surprised to see the boy whose attention he had been struggling to get waving at him from the other side of a window, Victor’s eyebrows raised in surprise slightly before he had the sense to return the gesture.

Victor waved back at the boy and gave him a wide grin—pleasantly surprised at the sight of the bright pink blush creeping into the boy’s cheeks in response—but regrettably Victor had to continue walking past the window if he had any chance of making it back to his car to look for his wallet before his shift at the Campus Store started.

_Well damn...I didn’t get to talk to him, but a smile and a wave is progress, I suppose!_

Victor walked out of the Student Union and towards the six-story parking structure where his car was parked, still grinning at the memory of his brief interaction with the cute and evidently shy boy in the blue-framed glasses and wondering when he would be lucky enough to see him again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you all catch the very subtle Yurio cameo in one section of this chapter (and the first chapter as well, I suppose, but that reference is even less obvious) that I wrote into the story unintentionally before deciding to just run with it?
> 
> So there you have it! Yuuri likes Victor and Victor likes Yuuri, but they're both so very clueless.
> 
> Stay tuned for the third and final chapter of this story to see what happens when Phichit takes matters into his own hands to help out his best friend!


	3. You Can Thank Me Later for This

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Phichit just wants the best for his friend and wants to see Yuuri happy, so if that entails a little bit of scheming and eavesdropping, well then that is the burden that Phichit is willing to bear (simply because he is a good friend and DEFINITELY NOT because he lives for creating drama and watching it all unfold).
> 
> In other news, Victor gets his wallet back!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the third and final chapter in this short little story. There is some more switching between perspectives throughout this chapter because I’m indecisive and didn’t like the flow of this chapter when it was only Yuuri's perspective or only Victor's perspective, as I had done initially. The first half of the chapter focuses on what Phichit is doing and the second half switches to Victor’s POV mostly, but I’m pretty sure you’ll be able to pick up on the POV switches in the story without too much trouble.
> 
> I hope you like this chapter, and as always, feel free to let me know any thoughts/questions/feedback you may have for me...I'd really appreciate it!

After they had finished with their lunch, Phichit convinced Yuuri to walk with him across campus to the Campus Store where his shift would be starting soon.

“And then the jerk had the nerve to remind our professor that he had mentioned assigning reading for us to complete before we meet again for class next week. I’m almost positive that if he hadn’t of said anything, Professor Connors would have completely forgotten about it!” Phichit whined as they walked around the curve of the Student Union after leaving the dining hall.

Phichit looked over at where his best friend had been walking only moments ago and was surprised to see that his friend was no longer beside him.

“Are you listening to me, Yuuri?” Phichit asked as he turned back and walked the short distance to where Yuuri was kneeling down to pick up something from the ground.

“What’s that?” Phichit asked before taking a closer look at the simple black leather wallet that his best friend was holding as he stood up from where he had leaned down to pick up the object, “Did you just find that on the ground?”

“Yeah, I stepped on it because I didn’t see it at first. I wonder who the wallet belongs to...maybe if I can find something with their name on it or something I can give it back,” Yuuri reasoned as he debated looking inside the wallet.

“If not, you can just bring it to the desk here at the Student Union and I’m sure they’ll have a lost and found,” Phichit added with a shrug.

“Hmm, maybe,” Yuuri said absentmindedly as he opened the wallet and nearly dropped the wallet from his hands as soon as he saw the Student ID card in one of the pockets, “well shit…”

“What? Did you figure out whose wallet it is?” Phichit asked with his eyebrows knit in confusion at the strangely pink tint that had crept into his best friend’s cheeks after opening up the lost wallet.

“Yup and it looks like now I might have a legitimate reason to talk to Crayon Boy,” Yuuri replied sheepishly as he handed Phichit the wallet to examine as well.

***

After walking Phichit to the Campus Store before his shift at work started, Yuuri claimed that he had errands to run and would see Phichit later before walking hurriedly in the opposite direction, towards the parking lot where his car was parked.

Ever since Yuuri stumbled upon the wallet belonging to Crayon Boy—who turned out to be named Victor—the pair had continued brainstorming what would be the best way to return the wallet to him. As Phichit entered the backroom of the Campus Store where a bulletin board with the schedule for the week and any other important information was posted, he scanned the page quickly as he looked for one name in particular.

_Bingo! Victor Nikiforov...and the next time he is working is...right now!_

Phichit hurriedly clipped his name tag into place on his shirt and walked to the front of the store where the registers were, barely managing to begin his shift prior to being considered “late”.

It was a slow time for the campus store and customers were few and far between, so when Phichit glanced around to ensure that his boss was not in sight and he determined that the coast was clear, he pulled out his cell phone from the pocket of his jeans and fired off a series of text messages.

**Peach:**  
**-YUUUUUURI**  
**-You’ll never guess who’s at work in the apparel section RIGHT NOW!!!!**

Phichit glanced up from his phone and saw that his coworkers were all busy helping customers or otherwise distracted and across the room Victor was busy organizing University-branded sweatshirts onto the appropriate display, so he took the chance to take a few sneaky—albeit slightly blurry—photos of the tall silver-haired boy to send to his best friend as well.

**Peach:**  
**-I checked the schedule before my shift and he’s working until 10 tonight**  
**-JUST LIKE ME!**  
**-Do you want me to go talk to him for you?**

Phichit looked towards the small line of people waiting to check out at the registers, but once they were taken care of, the store was not busy enough to demand his full attention and Phichit was almost certain that he would not be missed if he were to leave his register and take a short visit to the apparel department.

_Wingman of the year, here I come!_

**Yuu-Chan:**  
**-No! Don’t talk to him for me!**

**Peach:**  
**-Yeah, you’re right**  
**-You need to do this yourself**  
**-Can you come back to the store before closing tonight?**  
**-WAIT YOU'RE GIVING ME A RIDE HOME AFTER WORK BECAUSE MY CAR IS GETTING REPAIRED**  
**-SO YOU’LL BE HERE ANYWAYS!!!**

Phichit’s rapid fire texting was interrupted momentarily when a woman asked Phichit to point her in the direction of where she needed to go to pick up an online purchase that she had set to be picked up in-store, but when he returned to his phone and Yuuri had still not replied, he began to get a little nervous.

**Peach:**  
**-You are still giving me a ride after work, right? ._.**

Phichit kept an eye on his phone in his peripheral vision while he rang up a massive stack of textbooks for a short girl that he assumed to be a freshman, since she was actually making an effort to purchase all the required books for her classes.

After a couple minutes, Phichit let out a sigh of relief when he saw a text message light up the screen of his phone.

**Yuu-Chan:**  
**-Yes, I’m still going to keep my promise and give you a ride home after you get off work.**  
**-I’m still running errands right now, but I can definitely try to make it to the store in time to give Victor his wallet back.**

**Peach:**  
**-YAY!!!**  
**-It’s sort of weird knowing his name now...I liked calling him Crayon Boy hahah**

**Yuu-Chan:**  
**-Get back to work before you get fired, Phi**  
**-I’ll see you in a couple hours**

**Peach:**  
**-Ugh, fine...Don’t keep me (or Crayon Boy) waiting for too long ;)**

Phichit set his phone on the counter beside his register and waved the next customer to come forward for him to ring up their purchase.

***

The first few hours of Phichit’s shift had passed by sluggishly, but between chatting with his coworkers in between customers and keeping a watchful eye on Victor whenever he was in Phichit’s line of sight, he had kept himself busy.

As much as Phichit wanted to respect Yuuri’s wishes for him not to get involved with the situation with Victor, he knew that there had to be something, anything, that he could do.

_If I leave Yuuri to handle this alone, what’s to say that he won’t just chicken out? I can’t talk to Crayon Boy on Yuuri’s behalf, but perhaps I could just...test the waters with him and gather some intel._

_I’m not going to do everything for Yuuri, but perhaps I could just give him a little nudge in the right direction…_

As Phichit’s energy levels began waning, he decided to take advantage of the lull in customers and take an unscheduled break to buy a drink from the break room to act as a pick-me-up to help get him through the latter half of his shift.

When Phichit walked past the apparel section, he casually looked around to see if Victor was still there, shrugging his shoulders and continuing walking towards the break room in the back when the tall, silver-haired boy was nowhere to be found.

As Phichit approached the open door to the break room, he heard someone speaking with a distinctly Russian accent and stopped with his back against the wall as nonchalantly as he could manage.

Deciding that it was worth the risk, Phichit quickly glanced into the break room to see if his suspicions about who was inside were correct. After a cursory scan of the break room, Phichit was pleased to see that it was empty except for Crayon Boy who was seated at one of the tables in the break room with his phone leaned against his water bottle while on a video call with someone.

Phichit smirked when the gears in his head began turning, developing the perfect plan to give his best friend the little shove in the right direction that he may need.

**Peach:**  
**-So I know you said that I shouldn’t talk to him…**  
**-BUT**  
**-You can thank me later for this**

**Yuu-Chan:**  
**-NO**  
**-PHICHIT**  
**-YOU BETTER NOT BE DOING WHAT I THINK YOU’RE GONNA DO**  
**-WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO?**  
**-!?!?!?!**

**Peach:**  
**-You’ll see ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯**

**Yuu-Chan:**  
**-DON’T YOU DARE**  
**-PEACH**  
**-PHICHIT CHULANONT**  


Phichit glanced at the most recent texts from his best friend with a smirk, but decided that it would be better to ask his friend for forgiveness rather than permission for what he was planning to do. Phichit exited out of the text conversation with Yuuri, but felt his phone vibrate with new notifications almost immediately.

**-DON’T YOU DARE LEAVE ME ON THE FUCKING READ RIGHT NOW!!!!**  
**-PEACH...SWEAR ON YOUR HAMSTERS THAT YOU ARE NOT ABOUT TO DO WHAT I THINK YOU’RE GONNA DO**

**Peach:**  
**-Sorry, buddy, but we both know I can’t do that**  
**-I need to go now, ok?**  
**-Byeeee**

Phichit slid his cell phone into the back pocket of his jeans, ignoring the faint buzz of each new text notification that he was receiving as he leaned his back against the wall to casually eavesdrop on Victor’s conversation, finding the perfect spot to stand where he could see Victor but Victor could not see him.

“Yeah, I’m just confused...I know that I brought my wallet to campus with me because I had to scan my Student Parking Pass that I keep in there to park in my reserved spot in the 10th Street parking structure. I guess I’m gonna have to just call to cancel all my cards and get replacements if I still can’t find my wallet by the time I get back to the apartment after work,” Victor said with a frustrated huff.

“Yeah, it just sucks that losing your wallet had to cockblock you like that and prevent you from talking to your Electronics Department Cutie,” another voice replied through the speakers of Victor’s phone.

_"Electronics department cutie"...hmm, I wonder what the odds are that he could be referring to who I think he's referring to..._

“Chris!” 

Although Victor was alone—aside from Phichit, who was standing just out of sight—in the small employee break room, he still glanced around in embarrassment before whispering his reply.

“I don’t think ‘cockblock’ is the best word for this situation...I spent most of the time just pacing weirdly in front of the window he was sitting next to and I barely worked up the nerve to wave and smile at the boy, let alone make conversation. What's to say that even if I did talk to him that he'd even give me the time of day, you know?”

_Well...I suppose that answers that question._

Phichit was engrossed in the conversation he was listening in on and developing a plan to play matchmaker between the two clueless boys who were pining after each other, but as he saw one of his coworkers walking down the hallway and trying to get his attention, he knew that his cover had been blown and he wouldn’t be able to continue eavesdropping for much longer.

“There you are, Phichit! Kayla was looking for you. Are you on break?”

“Oh, uh, no. I just had to text my friend about something important. I was just about to go get something to drink from the machine before getting back to work.”

“Ah, okay. Cool! Just go find Kayla when you’re done, alright? I won’t keep you here any longer!”

His coworker walked away and Phichit knew that he couldn’t stand outside the break room unseen any longer, so he walked into the break room as casually as possible, not missing the way that Victor’s voice trailed off at the end of whatever he was saying to his friend on the video call.

“I’m gonna, uh, let you go now Chris...we’ll talk later,” Victor said as he interrupted what Chris was saying and quickly ended the video call.

“Ugh, dammit...hey buddy, do you think you can help me out with this? I think my bottle of lemonade got stuck in the soda machine,” Phichit said with his most stunning smile when he turned away from the vending machine to face Victor.

Phichit could see the look of recognition cross Victor’s face when he looked up from his phone at the short tan boy standing next to the soda machine with wide eyes.

Victor shrugged slightly and stood from his chair to walk across the break room to the far wall where all of the vending machines were.

“I think I can help you out with this…I bought a soda yesterday and the machine was being a jerk. What I had to do yesterday was just keep pressing the selection for the soda I wanted and just sort of…” Victor replied as he repeatedly pressed the button for pink lemonade and quickly rammed his shoulder into the machine once. As soon as his shoulder collided with the machine, they both heard the sound of the lemonade dropping into the bottom of the machine for Phichit to retrieve.

“Hey, it worked! Thank you!” Phichit exclaimed as he held up the bottle of lemonade in the air triumphantly.

“No problem,” Victor said as he returned to his seat.

“Is it alright if I sit with you for a few minutes?” Phichit asked with a smile. When he noticed a look of uncertainty cross the other’s face he added, “I’ll share my sour gummy worms with you, if you want some.”

Victor smiled and nodded as Phichit pulled out the chair across from him and took a seat.

Before Phichit had the chance to say anything, Victor looked up at Phichit sheepishly and cleared his throat, noticeably trying to work up the courage to say something.

“I, uh...I saw you earlier today at the Student Union,” Victor began awkwardly, “you were eating lunch at the dining hall with your, uh…”

_Ah! I see what you’re doing, Crayon Boy! Getting straight to the point without wasting any time, I respect that._

“Friend,” Phichit replied with a smirk in response to Victor’s implied question, “I was having lunch with my friend and we saw you passing by the window. I’m Phichit, by the way!”

Phichit held out his hand for Victor to shake and did not miss the quiet sigh of relief Victor let out as he reached his hand across the table to return the hand shake.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Victor,” he added with a polite smile as he accepted the bag of sour candy that Phichit was passing to him in order to grab a few.

“Likewise! It’s great to put a name to the face,” Phichit said as he took the bag of candy back from Victor, “I didn’t know that you worked here though...I guess our schedules never really overlapped, huh?”

“I suppose not. I only started working here about a month ago, but most of the time was spent in training and picking up any and every available shift that I could in the last few days of summer, so my schedule has been very sporadic.”

“Ah, that makes sense. Do you know who else works here? My friend—well, he’s my best friend, actually—the one that you saw me eating lunch with today!”

“Yeah, I know,” Victor replied before backtracking slightly, “I mean...yeah, I think I’ve seen him around work once or twice...”

Phichit noticed the slight blush in Victor’s cheeks and his nervous chuckle as he brought a hand up to his face to move his silvers bangs away from his eyes and laughed quietly as well.

“Yeah, he works in the electronics department and doesn’t really talk to very many people outside of his department, but with a face that cute, my friend can be pretty hard to forget. Don’t you agree?” Phichit smirked and cocked his head to the side, challenging Victor to see how he would react.

Victor looked up at Phichit for a moment, clearly debating how honest he was willing to be, before sighing dramatically.

“No kidding,” Victor mumbled with a quiet chuckle.

There were a few moments of silence between the two as they sat at the table and ate sour gummy worms before Phichit spoke up and changed the topic.

“So excuse me for eavesdropping a bit, but when I first came into the break room I overheard you telling someone that you lost your wallet. Is that right?”

A look of panic crossed Victor’s face before he nodded slightly.

“Yes, I did.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that,” Phichit replied with a strangely knowing smirk that implied he was not as sorry as he claimed to be and did not go unnoticed by Victor, “but I’m sure that you’ll get it back very soon!”

“Uh, yeah, hopefully…”

“Anyways! I’m technically not on break right now and I was just taking a moment to grab something to drink and have a quick chat with you before I go back to working the registers, but hopefully I’ll see you around.”

“Oh, yeah, hopefully. Thanks again for the sour candies!” Victor replied with a smile as Phichit stood from the table and left the break room with a wide grin as he continued crafting the perfect plan to help his best friend.

**Peach:**  
**-You're welcome ^_^**

***

As soon as Victor was alone in the break room again he quickly unlocked his phone and pulled up the most recent text conversation he had open.

**Victor:**  
**-CHRIS**  
**-I think the friend that was having lunch with my electronics cutie overheard our conversation about cockblocking a few minutes ago!!!!!!!!**

Victor sent the text as he quickly finished off the bag of potato chips he had been eating and prepared to go back to work now that his break was nearly over.

**Chris:**  
**-WHAT!?! Really? How?**

**Victor:**  
**-He works at the Campus Store too and was walking into the break room while I was on the phone with you**  
**-He mentioned overhearing that I lost my wallet, so he probably heard the whole conversation we had!**  
**-His name is Phichit**

**Chris:**  
**-Oh! Yeah, I’ve heard a lot about Phichit from some of the other people at work! He’s pretty popular, I think.**

**Victor:**  
**-He’s nice...he shared his sour gummy candy with me**  
**-He confirmed that the electronics cutie is just his friend, which is a relief**  
**-I think he knows that I’m interested in his friend though, because he made it VERY clear that they were just best friends and he even joked a bit about seeing me pass by the window a lot today.**

**Chris:**  
**-He seems pretty cool!**  
**-Maybe now that you have an in with the Electronics Cutie’s bff, you’ll be able to get closer to the Electronics Cutie himself! ;)**

**Victor:**  
**-That’s the plan!**

***

Victor had been working for nearly six hours when the final customers were finishing up at the store before it officially closed at 9:30PM, and he was barely managing to stay awake.

_Classes all morning and then work for most of the afternoon and evening...I’m so exhausted!_

Victor continued refolding the shirts on the display that had been unfolded throughout the day of shoppers carelessly removing shirts from the pile and placing them back messily while humming along to the music that was playing through the speakers of the Campus Store to keep himself entertained.

“Got a long list of ex-lovers,” Victor sang quietly before continuing to hum and whistle the rest of the lyric as he refolded the shirt in his hands, “...got a blank space, baby, and I’ll write your—”

“Excuse me?”

“Oh! Sorry you had to hear that but the store gets a little boring at night and you have to keep yourself occupied somehow,” Victor joked casually as he hurried to finish refolding the current pile of shirts he was working on, “what can I help you with?”

“Are you Victor? Victor Nikiforov?”

“Why yes, I am! What can I do for you—oh, fuck me!”

At the sound of his name coming from this unfamiliar voice, Victor set aside the pile of shirts he was refolding and turned to face the person speaking to him; however, what he had not been prepared for was to see his attractive coworker in the blue-framed glasses standing close behind him with a small smile on his lips.

“Oh my god! I didn’t mean to say that, I was just a bit surprised to see you, is all,”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you! I just...well, I guess...I can only imagine how strange this may seem, but I, uh…” the boy in the glasses struggled to explain as he wrung his hands together in front of his body.

“No, really, it’s fine. I didn’t mean to sound so surprised, but uh, how do you know my name?”

As soon as Victor asked the question, he mentally kicked himself for how rude it must have sounded based on the brief look of embarrassment and hurt that flashed across the other boy’s face as he looked away.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I probably should have led with this,” the boy reached a hand into the back pocket of his jeans and pulled out a slightly worn-looking black leather wallet, “this is your wallet, right?”

Victor’s eyes immediately lit up at the sight of his wallet that he was certain had been stolen or lost and his excitement was almost enough to distract Victor from the small jolt he felt when he took the wallet from the other boy’s outstretched hand and their fingertips brushed together briefly.

“Yes! That’s my wallet! I can’t believe you found it...how did you find it? Where did you find it?”

“I found it on the ground outside the dining hall. I, uh, I sort of stepped on your wallet...sorry,”

“You have nothing to apologize for, I’m just so happy to see that it didn’t get lost forever! It must have fallen out of my pocket one of the times when I was walking past the window.” 

Victor regretted bringing this up in conversation but he was finding it very difficult to speak coherently and be his usual suave self in the presence of the boy he had been pining over since he started working at the Campus Store, so he simply chuckled lightly before changing the subject.

“Anyways, I’m just happy to see that my wallet didn’t fall into the wrong hands. A worse person may have taken my money or tried to steal my cards and take my identity!” Victor laughed as he slipped his wallet into the back pocket of his own jeans.

The boy in the blue glasses smiled and the small laugh that escaped his lips was enough to make Victor’s heart flutter yet again, but he somehow managed to use all of his effort to retain some semblance of calm on the surface.

“What’s to say that I’m not that type of person? You didn’t even look in the wallet when I handed it to you. For all you know, I could have taken all your money and cards and stole the nearly full punch card for the cafe at the Student Union so I can get the free coffee that you have been working towards next time I go there.”

Victor narrowed his eyes, trying to determine if the deceptively shy and sweet boy across from him was serious or was only joking, before pulling out his wallet from the pocket of his jeans to see if anything appeared to be missing.

“All my cards and my cash seem to be here, but how did you know about my full punch card for the cafe?”

“When I found your wallet, I looked through it to find an ID or something with a name on it. I didn’t take anything, I promise, I just thought it would be funny to joke about...I don’t know why I said that,” the boy in the glasses replied with a nervous chuckle as the pink blush creeping into his cheeks replaced the confident, joking tone he had used before.

“I didn’t think that you had taken anything. Call it a hunch, but I had a good feeling about you.”

“And why is that? You don’t know me from any other random guy you’d see on the street,”

“Well, I may not know you very well yet, but I can honestly say that you are unlike any boy I’ve ever met...and the average person likely wouldn’t have made the effort to return the wallet back to me in-person.”

Victor gave the boy a smile and was pleased to see the pink blush in his cheeks deepen even further.

“Oh! Victor, I see that you met my handsome and wonderful best friend, Yuuri! He’s the one you saw me at lunch with and we were chatting about in the break room earlier!”

“Oh, sorry, I should have introduced myself. My name is Yuuri Katsuki,” the boy in the glasses said as Phichit walked up beside him and wrapped an arm around his shoulders, “You were talking about me? Why were you two talking about me?”

Yuuri asked the question to his friend, but continued looking between Phichit and Victor hoping that one of them would elaborate further, though neither looked like they were going to.

“You already know my name, but it’s an absolute pleasure to officially meet you, Yuuri. I’ve, uh, seen you around work here a few times before and I never got the opportunity to introduce myself.”

“Yeah, I’ve seen you around as well and never worked up the nerve to say ‘hello’ either,” Yuuri replied sheepishly, “and evidently you know, Phichit as well,”

“Ah, yeah! Victor here helped me physically assault the vending machine in the break room to get my pink lemonade that got stuck and we sealed the friendship when I shared my sour gummy worms with him. Isn’t that right, buddy?” Phichit asked as he placed his free arm around Victor’s shoulder, bringing the three of them into a loose group hug formation.

“Uh, I don’t know that I assaulted the vending machine, necessarily...but yeah, the rest of it is true,”

“Huh, good to know…” Yuuri replied with a tight lipped smile as he looked over at Phichit, seemingly having a silent conversation with the boy.

“Anyhoo! I just wanted to make sure that you two found your way to each other so Yuuri could give your wallet back to you while I was on my way to get more shopping bags for my register from the back room,"

"Wait, you knew that Yuuri had my wallet this whole time, didn't you?" Victor asked, trying to make sense of the entire situation.

"Well of course I did, silly! I was with him when he stepped on it and found it! Why else do you think I was so sure you'd get your wallet back?" Phichit stated as if it should have been obvious as he shook his head in mock disappointment, "I’ll just leave you two alone to chat and get acquainted a bit more or whatnot, but I’ll see you boys later, alright?” Phichit shot the pair a wink before removing his arms from their shoulders and speeding into the back of the store, out of sight.

When Phichit was no longer in sight, Victor noticed the slight shift in position that Yuuri made to put a bit more space between the two of them, but Victor was still too caught up in his thoughts as he tried to piece together all the information he had about what had just happened to focus on that just yet.

_Phichit coming into the break room when he did to chat with me could not have just been a coincidence, could it?_

_Did Yuuri ask him to talk to me?_

__

_What if Phichit told Yuuri that I was talking about him on my video call with Chris? Since Phichit undoubtedly heard what we were talking about..._

Victor glanced up at where Yuuri stood a short distance away from him, nervously staring down at his shoes and shifting from one foot to the other, and sighed quietly.

_Yuuri definitely knows about what Phichit overheard and he probably thinks I'm some deranged stalker or something._

“Uhm, so, your friend is very...friendly,” Victor said with a hesitant smile to help break the bit of tension that had formed between the two of them.

“Yeah, sorry about him...he means well and he’s just looking out for me, but he can be a little strange about how he goes about doing that at times.”

“No need to apologize, I have a close friend that is the same way. He actually works here with me too! His name is Chris, well technically Christophe but still...do you know him?”

“I don’t think so, no, but I generally don’t interact with too many people outside of the people at the register because of Phichit or the electronics department,”

“Well now you know me too! Maybe I can introduce the two of you sometime, I’m sure he’d love to formally meet you after everything he's heard about you,”

“Oh? Why is that? What could he have possibly heard about me that would be of any interest?”

_Well shit._

_Maybe Yuuri didn't know what Phichit and I talked about yet..._

“Oh, I—uh...can I make a confession? It’s sort of embarrassing…” Victor began, knowing that he might as well go all or nothing at this point, since he'd already embarrassed himself in front of Yuuri more than once during their brief conversation.

“Sure, go ahead, I guess…”

“Alright, well, I hope you don't think that I’m too creepy for this, but earlier today when I was walking past the dining hall window repeatedly...that wasn’t entirely a coincidence. Well, it was the first time...the first time that I walked by with my friend Chris. After that, Chris convinced me that it would be a good idea to go over to you and say ‘hi’ and get acquainted, but I couldn’t really think of how to go about doing that.”

“So pacing back and forth in front of the window..?” Yuuri asked, quirking his eyebrow upward but giving no other indication of what he thought about Victor's honesty moments ago.

“It was the best thing that I could come up with to try to get your attention to say ‘hi’ to you,”

“Well, Phichit will be pleased to hear that one of his theories was right,” Victor looked at Yuuri with his eyebrows furrowed in confusion before Yuuri began to explain, “when Phichit and I noticed you pacing back and forth, we were trying to come up with ideas about why you might be pacing. Phichit had some pretty crazy theories, but this was one of the more reasonable of his ideas,”

“What were some of the others?”

“Uh, those are irrelevant,” Yuuri laughed awkwardly as he tried to avoid the question, which only further fueled Victor’s curiosity, “Phichit was already trying to convince me to talk to you because he was certain that you were trying to get my attention for some reason, but it wasn’t until I found your wallet that I really had a good excuse to meet you.”

_Note to self, ask Phichit about his other theories._

“Thank you again for finding and returning my wallet to me. If there is anything I can do or give you to make it up to you, just say it and it’s yours,” Victor said as he looked at Yuuri and gave him a wide smile.

“Give him your number!” Phichit called to the pair as he walked towards them from the back room, apparently having heard the latter portion of the conversation that were having.

“Phichit! I thought you were leaving...don’t you have to close up your register before the end of your shift tonight?” Yuuri said through clenched teeth as his friend stopped to stand beside Victor and Yuuri again.

“You know, for how cute you are, you sure do have a lot of hostility, Yuuri!" Victor glanced between Phichit and Yuuri who was glaring at him in silent threat before Phichit lifted his hands in front of his chest in surrender, "Alright, alright...I’m going...at least I didn’t say the first thing that came to mind and ask Victor to give you his hand in marriage!”

“Dammit, Phichit...we’ll talk about this later!” Yuuri said as he turned quickly to jokingly slap Phichit’s head as he walked past quickly, making no attempts to hide his laughter.

“Can you please just pretend that you didn’t hear anything that Phichit just said? Uh...I’m just gonna leave now,” Yuuri said as he turned away in embarrassment and began to walk away.

“Wait, Yuuri! I don’t think your friend’s request was asking too much of me,”

“Oh, wait...What?” Yuuri sputtered in shock.

“Oops, sorry...I meant asking for my phone number. I’d, uh, like to give you my phone number. If you’d like to have my phone number, that is,”

“Ah, yes, of course. I’d really like that, thank you,”

Victor accepted Yuuri’s cell phone that was being handed to him and put in his phone number as a new contact before passing the phone back to Yuuri.

“Thank you, Victor. I’ll send you a text right now so you have my phone number too!”

**(Unknown Contact):**  
**-Hello there! It’s Yuuri :)**

“Perfect, thank you,” Victor said when he noticed that the text message had gone through to his phone, “I also wanted to know if you...maybe…if you wanted to, uh...”

“If I wanted to what?”

“If maybe you wanted to go get coffee with me sometime?”

“Oh! Yeah, sure. That’d be nice,” Yuuri replied timidly.

“Perfect, because I just found out from this really cute guy I met that I have a punch card at the cafe that is full, so the least I can do is treat you to that free coffee that you were willing to steal my wallet over initially.”

“Is that so? Well, aren’t I just the luckiest guy in the world?” Yuuri replied with a sweet smile that instantly set Victor's heart aflutter in his chest.

“Aw, I just love a happy ending!” Phichit cooed as he walked towards the pair with his messenger bag swung over one shoulder and his phone held up in the air, capturing the moment in the form of a candid picture that was saved to his camera roll.

“Seriously, Phichit? You’re so embarrassing sometimes...I don’t even know why I’m still friends with you,” Yuuri joked with a scoff to help disguise some of his embarrassment.

“Oh, you know you love me!”

“Phichit, can you send me the picture of Yuuri and I that you just took?”

“Obviously! Here, put your number into my phone so I can send it to you, Crayon Boy” Phichit said as he handed Victor his cell phone.

“Here you go! Also, Phichit, I have a few questions I’d like to ask you…My first one being: why did you refer to me as 'Crayon Boy' just now?”

***

Victor walked in the direction of the backroom to get his backpack from the employee lockers while Phichit remained standing beside Yuuri with an arm wrapped around his shoulders.

“Perfect, that’s just what I needed...my best friend and my boyfriend joining forces to embarrass me!”

“What did you just call Victor?” Phichit asked with a raised eyebrow, making Yuuri realize what he had just said aloud.

“Nothing. Forget I said anything.”

Yuuri began walking hurriedly towards the exit of the Campus Store, not bothering to wait up for Phichit as he tried to pretend that he had not just subconsciously referred to Victor as his boyfriend.

“Hey Yuuri,” Victor said quietly as he matched his speed to Yuuri’s and walked alongside him towards the exit.

Yuuri was too busy trying to ignore the way that their arms brushed past the other’s with each step due to their close proximity and forget the smooth way that Victor’s subtle Russian accent curved around the vowels in his name to form a coherent sentence, but when he saw Victor stop walking for a moment and turn to look at Yuuri, he snapped out of his distracted state.

“I’m sorry, I must have zoned out. Were you saying something?”

“No problem, dorogoy. I just offered to walk you to your car in the parking lot, since it’s pretty late at night and dark outside.”

“You don’t have to do that. I’m giving Phichit a ride to his apartment, so I won’t be walking alone either way,” Yuuri reassured Victor.

“I don’t have to, no, but I want to...as long as it’s alright with you,”

“Oh, in that case I suppose there’s no harm in letting you walk with me to my car. Can I ask you something, Victor?”

“Of course, dorogoy!”

“That word, the one you just called me...you used it earlier too. It’s Russian, right?”

“Oh, yes it’s somewhat of a...Russian nickname, I suppose. Russian is my first language, although I’m sure you could have guessed that based on my accent, huh?”

“A little bit, but your English is still very good. Anyways...what does that word mean?” Yuuri looked over at Victor casually as he asked his question and did not miss the momentary look of surprise and panic that swept across the features of his face before he shrugged and an easy smile spread across his lips.

“Oh, uh...nothing too interesting,”

“Huh...okay. I just really like the way it sounds when you call me that, so I was curious,” Yuuri explained with a shrug as the pair kept walking side-by-side to Yuuri’s car. By this point, Phichit had caught up to Victor and Yuuri as the pair walked close together and made causal conversation, but he chose to fall behind a bit to give the couple a bit more space to enjoy each other’s company.

_Oh yeah...I’m definitely gonna win wingman of the year after all of this!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this entire story was based on actual events that happened when a friend and I went to lunch together between classes on the first day of a new semester at our university and we happened to cross paths with my coworker that I had a minor infatuation with at the time in a way that was _very_ similar to the events of the prior chapters. I had the idea to tweak what really happened slightly and apply it to an idea I had for a YOI College Student/Coworker AU and this story was the end result!
> 
> I sincerely hope you all enjoyed this story and I appreciate everyone that read this, bookmarked it, left a comment, and/or left kudos.
> 
> I’ve been obsessed with Yuri on Ice since the very first time that I watched it nearly a year ago, so I just hope that I’m able to do it justice with my writing. I do have a few ideas for more YOI stories in the works, but since YOI is not the only fandom I write for currently and I also have to deal with real life responsibilities, I’m not entirely sure if/when I’ll get started on the next idea I have.
> 
> If you have ideas for a future YOI story or just wanna check me out on Tumblr and be friends, you can find me as [TextuallyFrustrated](https://textuallyfrustrated.tumblr.com/) (it’s a little bare and boring right now, but I’ll continue to post more of my writing resources, writing and prompt inspo, and some of the stories I’ve written relatively soon)!
> 
> Until next time: Stay awesome, my friends!


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